Article conveyance device and combination weighing device

Abstract

Problem To improve the efficiency of a combination weighing operation.An article conveyance device 110 includes an article discharge container 10, an article conveyance mechanism 30, an article detection mechanism 60, and a control unit 90. The container 10 has outlets 20 to discharge articles A. The article conveyance mechanism 30 has feeders 40 including a first feeder 41 to an n-th feeder 4n configured to convey the articles A. The article detection mechanism 60 has sensors 70 including a first sensor 71 to an n-th sensor 7n configured to detect the articles A in the first feeder 41 to the n-th feeder 4n, respectively. The control unit 90 judges whether jamming of the articles A is occurring in the outlets 20 based on output of the article detection mechanism 60. The control unit 90 increases a conveyance intensity of some feeders receiving the articles A from places where the jamming is occurring in the outlets 20.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An article conveyance device comprising:
 an article discharge container having discharge outlets and configured to discharge articles from the discharge outlets, the articles being held by the article discharge container; 
 an article conveyance mechanism having plural feeders configured to convey the articles that the plural feeders have received from the discharge outlets, the plural feeders including a first feeder to an n-th feeder; 
 an article detection mechanism having plural sensors, the plural sensors including a first sensor to an n-th sensor configured to detect presence of the articles in the first feeder to the n-th feeder, respectively; and 
 a control unit configured to judge whether or not jamming of the articles is occurring in the discharge outlets based on output of the article detection mechanism and increase a conveyance intensity of some feeders for receiving the articles from places where the jamming is occurring in the discharge outlets, wherein 
 in a case where the article detection mechanism detects that the articles are not being detected during conveyance in just some feeders of the plural feeders and that the articles are being detected during conveyance in the remaining feeders and the control unit judges that the articles are present in the article discharge container, the control unit judges that the jamming is occurring in the discharge outlets that discharge the articles to the some feeders in which the articles are not being detected, and 
 in a case where it has been checked in regard to all natural numbers equal to or greater than 1 and equal to or less than n that a k-th sensor installed in a k-th feeder has detected the articles in a first period since the k-th feeder started conveyance, the control unit judges that the articles will be present in the article discharge container over a second period. 
 
     
     
       2. The article conveyance device of  claim 1 , wherein the jamming is a phenomenon where some of the articles get caught on each other in the discharge outlets. 
     
     
       3. The article conveyance device of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit, when increasing the conveyance intensity, executes a first process that temporarily increases the conveyance intensity and a second process that reduces the conveyance intensity to its original state. 
     
     
       4. The article conveyance device of  claim 3 , wherein the control unit, when increasing the conveyance intensity, alternates between the first process and the second process. 
     
     
       5. The article conveyance device of  claim 1 , further comprising a notification device that notifies a user that there are none of the articles present in the article discharge container in a case where the article detection mechanism does not detect the articles in any of the plural feeders. 
     
     
       6. The article conveyance device of  claim 1 , wherein
 the article conveyance mechanism further has plural vibrating devices that convey the articles by vibrating each of the plural feeders, and 
 the conveyance intensity is an amplitude of vibration of the feeders. 
 
     
     
       7. An article conveyance device comprising:
 an article discharge container having discharge outlets and configured to discharge articles from the discharge outlets, the articles being held by an article discharge container; 
 an article conveyance mechanism having plural feeders configured to convey the articles that the plural feeders have received from the discharge outlets, the plural feeders including a first feeder to an n-th feeder; 
 an article detection mechanism having plural sensors, the plural sensors including a first sensor to an n-th sensor configured to detect presence of the articles in the first feeder to the n-th feeder, respectively; and 
 a control unit configured to judge whether or not jamming of the articles is occurring in the discharge outlets based on output of the article detection mechanism and increase a conveyance intensity of some feeders for receiving the articles from places where the jamming is occurring in the discharge outlets, wherein 
 the plural feeders each have a guide that guides the articles and a screw that rotates to thereby convey the articles along the guide, and 
 the conveyance intensity is a rotational speed of the screws. 
 
     
     
       8. A combination weighing device comprising:
 the article conveyance device of  claim 1 ; 
 plural hoppers that store the articles they have received from the plural feeders, respectively; 
 plural weighing devices that measure weights of the articles held in each of the plural hoppers; 
 an arithmetic unit that selects a combination of some of the plural hoppers so that a total weight of the articles held in the some comes close to a target weight; and 
 a chute that collects the articles from the some of the plural hoppers.